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>Chapter 2. The <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> Language</TD
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><H1
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><A
NAME="TUTORIAL-SQL-INTRO"
>2.1. Introduction</A
></H1
><P
>    This chapter provides an overview of how to use
    <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> to perform simple operations.  This
    tutorial is only intended to give you an introduction and is in no
    way a complete tutorial on <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
>.  Numerous books
    have been written on <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
>, including <A
HREF="biblio.html#MELT93"
><I
>Understanding the New <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
></I
></A
> and <A
HREF="biblio.html#DATE97"
><I
>A Guide to the <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>SQL</ACRONYM
> Standard</I
></A
>.
    You should be aware that some <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>
    language features are extensions to the standard.
   </P
><P
>    In the examples that follow, we assume that you have created a
    database named <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>mydb</TT
>, as described in the previous
    chapter, and have been able to start <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>psql</SPAN
>.
   </P
><P
>    Examples in this manual can also be found in the
    <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> source distribution
    in the directory <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>src/tutorial/</TT
>.  (Binary
    distributions of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> might not
    compile these files.)  To use those
    files, first change to that directory and run <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>make</SPAN
>:

</P><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
><SAMP
CLASS="PROMPT"
>$</SAMP
> <KBD
CLASS="USERINPUT"
>cd <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>....</I
></TT
>/src/tutorial</KBD
>
<SAMP
CLASS="PROMPT"
>$</SAMP
> <KBD
CLASS="USERINPUT"
>make</KBD
></PRE
><P>

    This creates the scripts and compiles the C files containing user-defined
    functions and types.  Then, to start the tutorial, do the following:

</P><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
><SAMP
CLASS="PROMPT"
>$</SAMP
> <KBD
CLASS="USERINPUT"
>cd <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>....</I
></TT
>/tutorial</KBD
>
<SAMP
CLASS="PROMPT"
>$</SAMP
> <KBD
CLASS="USERINPUT"
>psql -s mydb</KBD
>
<SAMP
CLASS="COMPUTEROUTPUT"
>...</SAMP
>

<SAMP
CLASS="PROMPT"
>mydb=&gt;</SAMP
> <KBD
CLASS="USERINPUT"
>\i basics.sql</KBD
></PRE
><P>

    The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>\i</TT
> command reads in commands from the
    specified file. <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>psql</TT
>'s <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>-s</TT
> option puts you in
    single step mode which pauses before sending each statement to the
    server.  The commands used in this section are in the file
    <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>basics.sql</TT
>.
   </P
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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